Plane teeters over cliff after skidding off runway in Turkey

A commercial air plane that skidded off a runway after landing in northern Turkey dangled precariously on Sunday off a muddy cliff with its nose only a few feet from the Black Sea.

Some of the 168 people on board the Boeing 737-800 described it as a “miracle” that everyone was evacuated safely from the plane, which went off a runway at Trabzon Airport.

Images show the aircraft on its belly and perched at an acute angle just above the water. If it had slid any further along the slope, the plane would have likely plunged into the sea.

Pegasus Airlines said no one was injured during the incident late on Saturday, despite the panic among the 162 passengers on board. The six-member crew, including two pilots, was also evacuated. Flights were suspended at Trabzon Airport for several hours before resuming again on Sunday.

Passenger Yuksel Gordu told Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency that words weren’t enough to describe the fear on the aircraft.

“It’s a miracle we escaped. We could have burned, exploded, flown into the sea,” Gordu said. “Thank God for this. I feel like I’m going crazy when I think about it.”